Developer: Square Enix, Artdink
Available on: Nintendo Switch
Triangle Strategy possibly has the most boring name of any video game I’ve ever played. If I didn’t know better, I would guess it was a cheap mobile game. As it turns out though, it’s a very good (and not cheap) RPG for the Switch.
In Triangle Strategy, you play as the head of a faction in a Game-of-Thrones-style world where each of the nations competes to expand their influence. Throughout the game, the story branches based on the decisions you make.
Like Octopath Traveler, the game is HD 2D, and the visuals are great. It’s a delightful mix of sprites from old SNES games and visual effects from the modern era.
The combat in the game is turn-based and tactical. When it’s their turn, each unit can move once and perform one action. Battles in the game are pretty lengthy, but they’re also pretty satisfying. There’s no easy works-every-time strategy. Pushing forward puts your units in range of enemy attacks. Holding back and playing it safe means you can rarely attack. Slight changes in strategy can have a big impact on the result of the battle.
The game constantly ramps up the difficulty and pushes the player to explore their arsenal and come up with new strategies. However, it also respects the player’s time. Even if you get a game over in battle, you keep all the XP you gained. Sadly, characters that don’t participate don’t get XP. This means if you wanna try someone new, you have to first grind their level up to something closer to the rest of the party.
There are some performance issues worth noting. In some of the larger battles, there are occasionally lag spikes. Also, it sometimes takes AIs up to several seconds of calculation to figure out what it wants to do on their turn. Neither of these has a major impact on the experience though.
While the combat’s fun, there’s relatively little of it. One could even argue Triangle Strategy is closer to a visual novel than a video game.
That’s ok though because the story is very strong. Each of the major nations in the world of Norzelia has its own style of governance and philosophies of life. As they all engage in a major struggle for power, you, the player, are in charge of navigating the perilous political landscape of the land and ensuring the survival of your demesne. Decisions are made through elections where each of your advisors gets one vote. You can hear them out and, if you don’t agree with them, attempt to change their minds before they cast their ballots.
Decisions are rarely easy. I often found myself having to pause and step away from the game to give me time to think them through. Reasonable people could disagree on all of them.
The dialogue, while a little on the dull side, is never particularly bad or cringeworthy. I rarely skipped dialogue and the story kept me engaged from start to finish.
In a rarity for JRPGs, the overall pacing (aside from a sluggish start) not only isn’t too slow, it might actually be a little too fast. Once the initial exposition is done, the party is thrown into crisis after crisis, with little breathing room in between. The game has a cast of characters that’s quite nice, but we don’t get to see them properly develop or grow cause they’re too busy fighting for their lives.
I also have a complaint on how endings are handled, but there’s no going into that without spoiling anything.
Even in spite of these things, Triangle Strategy still gave me a great experience. If you’re looking for a thought-provoking story, this is a good option.